Is he really Ritchie Rich? Joke by Andy Borowitz: A Brit, a Jew and a Pole walk into a bar and say, "Romney. What a douche!"

The Washington Post Fact Checker reports that Romney does deserve some credit for his role in the 2002 Winter Olympics. While he may have spun his role to maximize his own role, the article concludes:

Quote:

Number crunchers can manipulate data to say just about anything, but it seems fairly certain that the SLOC at least broke even on the second-most-expensive Winter Olympics up to that point — the final budget was $1.3 billion.

Of course, there was also $1.5 billion pumped into the local infrastructure by--shudder--the Federal government. Of course it is hard to tell, since the records were all destroyed. From the Boston Globe last week:

Quote:

“Transparency? There was none with [the Salt Lake Organizing Committee] when he was there,” said Kenneth Bullock, a committee member who represented the Utah League of Cities and Towns. “Their transparency became a black hole. It was nonexistent.”

According to Romney campaign spokeswoman Andrea Saul, “Mitt Romney resigned from SLOC in early 2002 to run for governor of Massachusetts and was not involved in the decision-making regarding the final disposition of records.”

Romney and the Salt Lake Organizing Committee had no legal obligation to preserve their records or make them public, even though the state paid $59 million, and the federal government spent $342 million on the Games and contributed roughly $1 billion more in indirect aid for transportation projects and other capital improvements in the Salt Lake region.

Like other Olympics, the 2002 Winter Games were managed not by a public entity but by a private, nonprofit corporation that was exempt from public records laws.

Earlier Olympic organizing committees, too, had destroyed internal documents. Organizers of the 1998 Winter Games in Nagano, Japan, burned records of their bid to host the Olympics — a move widely believed to have covered up bribery.

But Romney vowed that he and his committee would operate out in the open. Dubbed a “franchise player” by Utah’s Governor Mike Leavitt, Romney was charged with leading the comeback from a scandal in which some on the Salt Lake bid committee had quietly doled out cash payments to International Olympic Committee members during the host city selection process.

“Any time there has been a breach of trust by people at the top, that organization is going to be placed under a microscope, and that is appropriate,” Romney said at a news conference on Feb. 11, 1999, the day he was named chief executive of the Salt Lake Organizing Committee. “We will be viewed much more carefully than any other organizing committee, perhaps in the history of the Olympics, and we deserve to be so viewed. I believe we will come through with flying colors.”

Of course, given the lack of records and tax returns, it is impossible to know what Mitt might have been paid, directly or indirectly, or what he did with the money. But since his dad wasn't rich, and he didn't go to the best schools, or have money given to him to start businesses, we can conclude that he made it on his own, without any help from anyone--especially the Federal government.

Boggs I think your setting yourself up for a huge disappointment. It will be close but if you think barry the stoner is a lock you are delusional. It will come down to who can solve our problems , not who has the best jump shot and is the most likeable, that works on American Idol, not for house moms when they are thinking of their kids future!!!!
obama does well in certain polls and bad in others, the economy sucks, and people are pissed.
Romney has not even picked his Vp or officially been introduced to the country yet, call him all the names you want, but most people can see through the liberal hate machine and see a man who stands head and shoulders over barry the fraud.
I wouldn't dust the columns off yet , we have a loooong way to go!!!

The logical right, embodied by madman Matty, weighs in with reasoned arguments about why Mitt is a better candidate. Long on specifics, short on vitriol, and highly pursuasive. Yeah.

It is amazing how the right has made a cult out of their hatred of accomplishment. Success at Harvard in law school becomes a liability--and the wing nuts argue irrelevant tangents about when a professor is not a professor. And when confronted with their bigotry and hatred--those who are brave enough to confront them are accused of bigotry and hatred. In the meantime, Mitt is out there enough for his likeability quotient to plunge to single digits.

The government has always supported and shared in the funding of the Olympics, and the issue regarding oversight and spending was initiated by both parties and pushed by John McCain.

Quote:

“I think it is a disgrace,” said Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., who, along with U.S. Rep. John Dingell, D-Mich., asked the government agency to investigate the escalating expenditures for hosting the Olympic games in American cities.“But this is a logical extension of what you get when you start pork-barrel spending.”

Again, lack of government control and oversight, which has and always been a conservative issue.

Quote:

It is important to note, McCain says, that the report found that the federal government has no policy that defines its role in financing the Olympics and that there has been no provisions for oversight and monitoring the money spent. A good portion of the funding, he says, was added piecemeal to different appropriation bills passed by Congress.

“They just stuck it in there,” McCain said. “It’s outrageous and it’s got to stop.” McCain said he would filibuster any unauthorized spending that Sen. Bennett tries to propose.

mac, your issue regarding what Romney may or may not have been responsible for may have some merit, but since Congress is fine with throwing money at the Olympics with "no provisions for oversight and monitoring the money spent", then we all get stuck with possible mismanagement. Romney did what he thought needed to be done for a successful Olympics and there really ISN'T any evidence that it was mismanaged in any way.

The Obama strategy (the only option left) is to discredit his opponent. This is all we will see for the next few months.

Pueno once again you prove you have less to offer than me, except your dry juvenile rebuttals, at least Mac takes the time to quote some moon bat from Berkley as if it is the truth and not an opinion.
Like I have said numerous times , you trust your sources and I trust mine.
Mac with all do respect most people do not delve into politics as deeply as you and others, and it does come down to sound bites , the current state of the economy, and other more superficial things.
I know you have little respect for me (some deserved and some not) but I have a good feel for things and smarter than you may think.
This will be a very close race and I would not be surprised by anything, but my gut feeling is Romney will win, the vibes in the air just like in 2008 when obama had the wind at his back.

Techno--Obama's accomplishments include respect for environmental laws--the Bush administration just ignored them and was in court, losing, most of the time--the bank bailout that the sitting president couldn't convince his party to vote for, and the long-sought reform in health care. Remember that the search for the perfect is the enemy of the good. Given the constant attacks on these accomplishments, which had eluded previous presidents, and the abuse of the filibuster, you conservatives got what you had actually asked for--a government that was largely paralyzed and couldn't do much. To blame that on Obama is to elevate partisanship and hatred to a virtue.

Given that, and the litany of lies from Crossroads--freed of constraint by a conservative Supreme Court--the campaign will be ugly. But those without a partisan axe to grind look at the health care bill and say that it will save money and bend the curve, and is a singular accomplishment. Denial is not merely a river in Africa, but the only arrow in the Republican quiver.

I say we all meet at Chick Fil A tomorrow, have a bite, and watch the freak show. I heard they are having a kiss in tomorrow, free lesbian show and a good sandwich, I love this country!!!
I just took the catalytic converter off my car , and drained my oil down the street drain, like a good conservative I hate the environment.

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